I just got back from a gorgeous weekend in Steamboat Springs, Colorado-- a lil hot-spring-laden-mountain town three and a half hours by car from our house-- just head west down a winding canyon road along the rushing Poudre River and over pine-covered mountain passes. I went there with Hubbie and Toddler for a vacation/bookstore signing. We stayed at the groovy Rabbit Ears Motel in a room with a balcony overlooking the Yampah river.

The signing was at Epilogue, an extremely adorable bookstore on the main street. If I owned a bookstore, I'd want it to look something like this. Notice all the charming features.

*atmospheric lighting* (one quirk of mine is that I'm super-sensitive to lighting-- infuriatingly so, according to my husband, who has tried in vain to have us switch to all fluorescent lights, but that's one sacrifice I just can't make...)

Lovely, golden quote on the wall

tea and cupcakes!

Pat, the events coordinator, me, and Erica, the owner-- I could've stayed on that cozy couch talking to them all afternoon...

Several of these girls are writing their own BOOKS at the moment! So impressive!

Mary and I got lost in a fun conversation about one of our favorite topics... OAXACA!

soaking in the hot springs... ahhhh....

Hubbie striking a pose at Creekside restaurant, where we ate a yummy brunch accompanied by guitar music on Sunday (Epilogue's gracious treat!)

Still snow in the mountains!

So now that I'm back in Fort Collins, I've been revising The Cerise Notebook, which is actually pretty fun. The hardest part was getting that first draft done. It's much smoother sailing now that I know (and love) the characters and setting and story and everything.

The ARCs of The Indigo Notebook are floating around out there (hopefully being read and enjoyed)-- and I just got an early review (most reviews won't come out til this fall.) I'm relieved and overjoyed that it's a good one! Voila:

***** Five out of five stars!!! "This amazing book blends coming of age, romance, mystery, and a little mysticism to build an enticing story. The characters become real and I hated to turn the last page and leave them."--Diana Tixier Herald, genrefluent (a fiction review website) & goodreads

I can't wait until it's out there for everyone to read-- it's so hard to have patience during this in-between time...

Please join me for a live chat on readergirlz tomorrow (Wednesday, May 20) at 6 p.m. Pacific time/9 p.m. Eastern (which means if you're in Colorado, like me, it wil be at a convenient 7 p.m.) It's really, really easy to join in the discussion, and I hope you do!!!

Thanks for reading! And please sign up for my every-other-month newsletter if you haven't already-- a new installment is coming soon...

xoxo,
Laura

Lots of old, pretty chandeliers in my life lately... this one's in Epilogue.